Abstract

The goal in this work is to map the fracture network in the department of Sinfra (center-west of Ivory Coast), located in substratum area. The methodology used in this study also provides a method to validate the obtained map of fracture network. To achieve this objective, Landsat TM and ETM+ images (197-55) respectively from 1986 and 2003 are processed in order to extract the fracture network. This network is the characterized by statistical analysis methods in order to reveal the main directions followed by regional fractures and those followed by fractures in general. The second parameter to be analyzed in the context of this analysis is the statistical correlation between the number and cumulative length of fractures. The processing of satellite images has produced a dense network of fractures 8877. The distribution of number of fractures orientation in the overall fracturing field gives two main direction namely N0-10 and N90-100 in respective proportions of 16% and 12%. The distribution of orientation of the cumulative length of fractures has also two main directions, the same as before: N0-10 and N90-100 with 14% and 13% respectively in proportion. Five secondary directions were also identified: N10-20, N20-30, N70-80, N100-110 and N110-120. Thus, in the department of Sinfra, mega fractures follow both directions previously identified: EW and NS. This study also showed that the number and cumulative length of fractures are two parameters that are linked with à linear correlation coefficient R = 0.68.